Free-scoring Moeen Ali makes West Indies suffer as England take control

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: England's Moeen Ali bats piles on the pressure on West Indies towards the end of day four at Headingley. Picture: Nigel French/PA

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MOEEN ALI felt that West Indies' heads went down as England moved into a match-winning position in the Headingley Test.

The all-rounder said that the tourists became dispirited after tea on day four as he helped to take the game away from them along with Chris Woakes.

Ali top-scored with 84 and Woakes hit 61 not out to help England recover from 327-7, a lead of 158, to reach 490-8 declared.

After West Indies closed on 5-0 chasing 322, Ali said: “We felt like their heads went down after tea pretty quickly.

“We wanted to keep burying them and make them suffer by keeping them out there in the field.

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“Their bowlers were getting tired and they were a bit down as a side, so we tried to capitalise on that.”

Ali admitted that England did not expect to be in such a strong position going into day five.

England's Moeen Ali reaches his half century. Picture: Nigel French/PA

“We are very happy to be in this position and probably didn’t think that we would be,” he said.

“We didn’t play that well in the first couple of days and we had to show fight and determination to get back into the game.

“But West Indies have got good players and are a dangerous side.”

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